Silver–magnesium fluoride cermet films 2: Optical and electrical properties

We discuss the optical properties of Ag-MgF(2) and voided silver cermets. We show that the former system is intrinsically three phase, because of the presence of voids, and that it cannot be regarded as made up of two synthesized phases. We show that the optical behavior of our voided silver cermets is not in keeping with the Maxwell-Garnett and effective media models, but that it can be used in a model-independent way to yield structural information about the cermets. We discuss the interesting optical properties of one cermet in the transition or optical crossover region. We also present data on the electrical resistivity of both types of cermet.